Glitch
by WannabeDragronTamer88
Summary: What happens when a fangirl (of epic proportions,) of the film The Avengers finds herself somehow, by stroke of luck, IN the movie? How did it happen? Why did it happen? And more importantly, how can this be used to her advantage? Will our fangirl turn the whole film upside down, or is she actually supposed to be there in the first place? SEQUEL TITLED ADJUSTING WITH THE AVENGERS.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own any of characters depicted below that you may recognize...they belong to forces higher then me, and I respect them and applaud them for their beautiful creations.**

* * *

It didn't happen on a regular basis. It wasn't consistent, and didn't run like clockwork. It was a hassle; a shock, an unexplainable occurrence that felt uncomfortable and completely changed my life…and cause me to have an existential crisis all at the tender age of fourteen.

It happens rather quickly too… one moment I am comfortable in my own skin, with the belief that I have complete understanding about the way that my universe works, and then the next second it's as if I've being simultaneously shoved from behind and punched in the gut, while all the oxygen is pulled from my body, forcing me to gasp urgently for something that isn't there. THAT feeling only lasts for a moment, though. Then everything rushes back so suddenly that I find myself momentarily numb before the sudden rush of feeling hits me and I become unsteady on my feet, rapidly blinking away black spots from my vision to take in an entirely new scene to the one that I had been standing in only seconds before.

It's disconcerting to find you've moved without realizing, quite like the surprise you would feel as a child when your eyes would close on the ride home only to open again to reveal yourself tucked safely in your bed.

Except when it happened to me, I hadn't fallen asleep, and no one had moved me while I was unaware. Well, _something_ did. I would only realize much later what exactly IT was.

I'm fourteen, and hardly a child prodigy. Using all of the scientific knowledge that freshman biology has taught me, I've given this strange occurance the most scientific name I could think of: Glitching out.

I was a video game glitch, and probably crazy to boot.

Unlike a video game glitch, though, I wasn't glitching through trees or obstacles. No, I was glitching from one reality to another, traveling through time and dimension, and all without a life jacket. As awesome as a trek like that sounds, there's too much unknown about such a situation to really be able to enjoy it.

* * *

The first time it happened, I was having the most important discussion of my LIFE, or at least that's how I thought of it at the age of 14. A friend of mine, (I should probably mention here that most of the individuals I'd befriended in high school boasted of talents that many would deem questionable,) had somehow obtained the finalized script for the new Avengers film, (I didn't ask how,) and after meticulously examining and analyzing each word, we were politely debating the pros and cons of the film currently in its last stages of filming in the exact same location as where said questionable friend had just returned from enjoying his spring break. The polite vocal exchange altered dramatically when the topic of the films choice of villain arose.

Mildly knowledgeable about the movie Thor, (I had only watched it over three hundred times by this point,) I'd been delighted by the reintroduction of Loki as antagonist. Said questionable friend did not agree, and that's when things got heated.

* * *

"Are you kidding me? Loki's a stick bug! How is he going to take on the combined muscle mass that is the Avengers? Thor alone could just sit on him, and save the day!"

"First of all, he's got magic, dude. MAGIC. What he lacks in brawn he more than makes up for in skill, and second of all, muscle mass isn't the deciding factor of a winning side," I retorted.

"Right, because that bag of cats has any sanity left in him," my friend snorted. "The guy doesn't stand a chance."

"Just because he's slightly unstable doesn't mean he doesn't have a chance!" I argued. "He's wily, a strategist at heart. Plus, he's smart, AND motivated. He's definitely a force to be reckoned with."

By this time the bell had rung, signaling the end of lunch, and Ryan (my current conversation buddy,) and I had cleared out of the commons and were easing our way into the crowded traffic that was the hallway, all the while continuing to argue, I mean, discuss.

"So you're saying if you were in the film and you could choose which side to root for, you'd root for Loki? The villain?" My friend snarked.

I thought for a moment. "Yes."

"You'd root for the crazy freak." He rephrased slowly as if speaking slower would make me change my mind.

I nodded.

He seemed stumped for a moment. "Why?" I straightened up, using all of my five feet and four inches to try and look intimidating.

"Because," I drawled in my best Hiddleston impression, "I believe in Loki Laufeyson." And before I could even take in the dumb expression on my friends face, I'd glitched.

* * *

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**~CLC~**


	2. Pegasus

_**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**_

* * *

The last thing I remembered was arguing angrily with my dear friend in the middle of our school hallway...

And then there was gut-punch, back-shove, breath-stealing unpleasantness for a few painful seconds, followed by the momentary blindness and resulting unsteadiness that meant my butt made itself well-known to the ground before my eyesight had cleared. (Also known as GLITCHING.)

When I could finally see again I was actually happy that I had already hit the ground, because if I hadn't already made friends with the pavement, I would've relatively quickly after catching sight of the man who stood directly in front of me.

I knew exactly who it was, Snakes on a plane being the absolute closest I could get to a chick flick: Samuel L. Jackson. I mouthed his name in awe. It was HIM. But this was a Sam Jackson I'd only seen twice before; and words that had previously escaped me now attempted to make up for lost time.

"Really? You do realize that's the exact same outfit you wore in Iron Man two, right?" I snorted nervously. "I mean, it's _obviously_ a good look for you, and the boots are wicked sweet, I _must_ know where you got them, but couldn't the costume department have revamped it at least a little bit?" I raised a finger sheepishly.

"Also; where am I?"

Sam Jackson, the beautiful man, gave me the most terrifying scowl I'd ever seen in my entire life, which is saying a lot seeing as my sole purpose in life is to annoy my brother-slash-guardian to distraction. (My older brother Devon has the death glare DOWN.) He's had enough practice, of course. But Dev had NOTHING on Sam.

I'm pretty sure, that in that moment, under the full force of that lethal glare, I literally died. The glare was fierce enough to frighten my heart to stop beating, that's how extreme it was. And get this; Sam Jackson did that much damage with only one eye. (Did I mention the eye patch had made a second appearance?)

He stood menacingly over me, glare still evident, the both of us surrounded by men dressed in dark colors and carrying weapons, and in my freshman logic, I felt it was safe enough to take a look around when he didn't respond to my question.

* * *

We were underground. Tech stuff abounded, (don't ask me what kind of tech stuff, I wouldn't know, I think there were some computers.) and every occupant of the room was frozen, looking at me fiercely. I grinned when I caught one of their eyes; dude had a bow and arrow. A legitimate BOW AND…did he look familiar? I ignored his glare, (After being witness to the most evil glare in all of history, I'm pretty sure I was now immune to all other attempts) to take in the room better. Rotating slowly to take in the entire room, the white walls, tech gear, sketchy looking people, terrifying one-eyed wonder, and….

I stopped at the glowing blue cube.

No, you read it right.

Glowing. Blue. Cube.

Weird, right? Only thing is, I knew what it was. I knew what it was supposed to be. I'd seen Captain America, I recognized it.

Then it all made sense.

"I'm dreaming." I turned back to grin at the growing audience. "None of this is real! Rhino got so mad at me that he punched me out in the hallway and now I am unconscious and bleeding! Oh he's going to feel so bad, he's going to have to like Loki now!" I clapped my hands together and focused again on Fury, whose glare had, (if it were even possible,) intensified. Since I had decided this was a dream though, I'd deduced that no one could hurt me, and since it was my mind orchestrating these events, that they wouldn't want to anyway, death glare aside. So I began to speak to the assembled audience as if we were old friends, starting with the one man besides Fury that I'd actually recognized.

"Selvig! I'm glad I kept you in your khaki, plaid combo, it works for you." I grinned at Selvig, who looked confused.

I took another glance around the room, assessing, better understanding what it was that I was looking at. "So this is Pegasus."

At that, Fury pulled out his gun.

I didn't wince, still fully believing in my inability to get hurt, and Fury growled.

"How do you know all of that? Who are you?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but was distracted by the noise coming from behind me. I turned in time to witness the tesseract react, lighting the room in a blinding blue, the force of the reaction throwing me headfirst into a wall.

Four thoughts ran through my head simultaneously:

_Pain!_

This is not a dream, I repeat this is not a dream.

Activate panic mode, this is not a drill, I repeat not a drill, activate panic!

**Panic.**

By the time I'd returned to my natural semi-sane state, Loki had already made his entrance.

And I had missed it.

Despite my rage at that realization, I'd realized that the blast had thrown me behind a few desks, hiding me from view.

Which was a good thing.

As naïve as I was freshmen year, I understood that Loki was bad news, and I'd read what happened in this scene, it was a massacre. _Sweaty Loki takes out everyone in sight but a select few._ Being the curious baby freshie that I was though, I wanted to watch.

Safely, from my hiding place.

So I peeked, every bone in my body aching, over the edge of the desk to see Loki exchanging words with Sam, (who was Fury, of course.)

"Are you planning to step on us?"

I couldn't help it. I snorted. (If I were in a horror film, I would be the first to die.) I am the first ten minutes of Supernatural, the idiot who checks on the noise downstairs alone and without a weapon. I was certain that my death was nigh in that instance, because the two heard me.

Loki's head snapped to where I hid, and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Who," he purred, eyes crazed but glinting in fascination, "are you?"

I didn't answer. I couldn't. That's how uncool I was. Stunned speechless by a psychopath in leather.

When I didn't answer he frowned and stepped toward me, but luckily the ceiling began to make threatening noises, and Loki, along with his blue-eyed brain slaves, exited the room, but not before one of them hit Fury in the chest with a bullet.

As soon as they cleared the room, I ran to Fury's side. (I'm not entirely useless.)

"Get up!" I helped him stand and handed him his walkie-talkie. He frowned at it, dazed and a little bit confused.

I rolled my eyes. Didn't he remember his lines? "Tell Hill to stop them. Maybe she'll get them before they leave the building." Sam's (Fury,) eyes brightened, and he began harshly speaking into the talkie, striding away. I stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do, when the ceiling suddenly concaved, and began to crash down on me.

This is it, I thought frantically, it's the end, and I don't even know what's going on! Before the ceiling could hit me, though…for the second time in my life, but unfortunately not the last time….I glitched.

* * *

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**~CLC~**


	3. Germany

**_See Chapter One for Disclaimer_**

* * *

The first glitch I chocked up to a hallucination. Too little sleep, too much script analyzing. I found it funny that the glitch lasted ten minutes wherever I'd landed, but I glitched right back to the exact moment I'd left in my world. I eagerly took in Ryan's dumb expression and acted as if nothing life shattering had just occurred.

That night was when I let it out. By crying. I'm an emotional person, a sympathetic crier. It's just who I am, and I felt a lot better after I cried it all out.

After my crying spell, when I was once again fully rational, I made a decision. Whatever had happened was a one-time thing that would never happen again, and I vowed to stop reading the stupid script before bedtime.

I read it in the mornings instead, because I refused to stop reading it entirely.

I was relieved when a month went by and I didn't glitch again. Relieved, and a little disappointed. However the whole glitch thing worked, it threw me right into a world where the avengers existed and were living out what was only a film in my reality. So hallucination or no, I was a bit disappointed when it didn't happen again.

Then there was German class.

I took the class on a dare, and was very surprised when I found I enjoyed it; although I held no affinity for the language. Thus far, I'd only been able to successfully master one phrase: where am I?

I was just slightly (hugely) behind the rest of my class, who by now could hold full-fledged conversations, (which I should've been able to do, seeing as we were currently entering the last two weeks of school, and I'd been in said class the entire year.) It only seemed to be an issue for whoever was partnered up to converse with me, though.

I tried to convince my teacher one time that I was an amnesiac lost in Germany, and that phrase was the only one I remembered, but she wouldn't go for it.

My conversation on the day that the glitch occurred for the second time, (nearly two months to the day since the first glitch,) occurred as follows.

(What is your name?)

(Where am I?)

(How old are you?)

(Where am I?)

***frustrated, (what is the date?)

*Slowly (Where am I?)

*Angrily (What is wrong with you?)

*Victoriously (WHERE AM I?!)

And once the last German syllable left my very American lips, I glitched for the second time.

* * *

The second glitch was a much smoother process than the first time; still gut-wrenching, still uncomfortable, but easier to handle.

And this time, I was outside.

It was dark. And cold. And I had no idea where I was.

(Where am I?)

The street was deserted, the buildings like none I'd never seen before, almost as if I were in a different country. The street signs in another language solidified that idea. The street signs were actually a dead giveaway.

While I may not be able to decipher what exactly they said; I knew what language they were in. You guessed it: German. But why was I in Germany? I stood in the street, confused by the lack of traffic until I heard an explosion go off. I ran toward it. (Again, first ten minutes of supernatural.)

I turned the corner of the street to stop, mouth agape, next to a flipped over police vehicle.

There, standing in front of a group of German citizens, stood Loki, decked out in full armor, a horned helmet on his head, his expression no less crazy than the last time I'd seen him, though he was a lot less sweaty.

I was back in the Avenger's movie. Again.

I wanted to blame the hallucinations, I wanted to say it was a dream, but as I listened to Loki, (or a Loki clone, because there were like ten Loki's running around,) the one thing my mother, the US Army General, had taught me, it was that when unexplainable things happen, you just go with it. The only thing that pretending it's not real or trying to figure everything out at once will do, is waste time.

It's a rule I live by, one of the only rules that I actually follow.

So yeah I was in Germany, when two seconds ago I was in German class, and yes, one of my favorite MOVIE SCENES was playing out right in front of my eyes, but I wasn't going to make my presence known. I wanted to live. So I stood by, said nothing, and watched.

Which, for a fan girl, who as a species is generally known by their ability to scream in a shrill deafening manner, is a highly difficult thing to do.

* * *

Captain America showed up seconds before I felt I should intervene. I didn't care that the script said he was going to show up, I wasn't assuming things ever again. I used to assume that one couldn't just jump into different movie universes, but the sight before me begged to differ.

In that moment, I was blinded by the glorious Captain America. Chris Evans is a beautiful person just in general, but when he dropped down from the sky, it wasn't Chris Evans I saw. No, it was all Captain America. Every word that came out of his mouth, the way he held himself and stood up for the people, all of it was glorious. If the film turned out exactly the way I was watching it go down, it was going to break records. Cap's uniform wasn't too shabby either, heheh. (What? I can't help myself!)

The second the two started to fight, I ran forward, catching the frozen crowd's attention, and yelled in bad German, "RUN!"

I'm relatively sure I yelled run, because the crowd did so, but I might've shouted duck. Either way, it worked.

Once most of the crowd had run for their lives, I turned around to watch the show again, just in time to see Iron Man make his grand entrance.

Iron Man. Tony Stark. The guy knew how to make an entrance, that's for sure!

"Make your move, Reindeer games."

Reindeer games? That was a good one.

Loki, on the ground, being cowed by two of the most amazing people on the planet, did the right thing. He surrendered.

"Smart move."

I couldn't help it. I'd been quiet the entire fight, I'd stayed out of it, but at Stark's last words, I couldn't help myself. I started clapping.

Which caught their attention.

Stark looked bemused, Steve confused, and Loki, furious.

I stopped clapping.

"Sorry, it's just, that was brilliant." I admitted. "Absolutely brilliant! You're Tony Stark, right?"

Please say no, please say no, please say no…

"Yup that's me." Stark admitted with a grin. "Nice English."

"English is my first language." I corrected quickly. "I'm uh, not German. I'm American." I winced, wanting to stop talking, but my mouth ran away with me. "I take German at school, but I only know like, six words. I can say where am I, and run, or maybe duck, it's one of those." I shrugged. "Anyway, I just wanted to say good job, and," I paused mid ramble as Cap held up a finger, effectively silencing me.

Cap furrowed his brow and hesitated, hand to ear. Then he nodded. "Copy that." He looked at me. "You need to come with us."

Stark sent Cap a glare, and Cap shrugged. "Fury's orders."

Stark rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded a lot like "Soldier."

Loki glared at me throughout the entire conversation, not even trying to escape.

"Aren't you going to try to escape?" I asked before I could stop myself.

Stark and Cap snapped their heads to stare at Loki.

"They were totally distracted. You could've just started walking away." I insisted. Loki said nothing. He didn't even move. I shrugged. "Never mind."

"What's your name?" Cap asked me.

"What's yours?" I retorted, though I had no idea why I'd asked. I knew who he was.

"Steve."

I rolled my eyes. "I was kidding. I know who you are. I know everything."

Stark and Steve frowned at me. I didn't bother trying to explain.

"You said I had to go with you." I said, the silence starting to freak me out. "Are we going to go?"

Stark looked at Steve who looked up at the plane that hadn't landed yet, and I decided I'd rather walk.

Unfortunately a klutz like me ends up falling more than walking. I'm pretty sure I tripped over a bug. Which is really embarrassing. But luckily and also unfortunately, I glitched out before my face could introduce itself to German pavement.

* * *

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**~CLC~**


	4. Quote

_**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**_

* * *

My questionable friend, whose name is Ryan Azariah Blaine, (which is a completely ridiculous name, so I called him Rhino,) is my only friend. (I suppose I shouldn't say anything about his name, seeing as mine is Charlotte Dylan Eden Kirk. Heh.) He's not very supportive, or caring, but he's all I have, and after the second glitch, I really needed someone to talk to about this.

So, because I'm an idiot, I told him everything. Literally EVERYTHING.

After about a week of him making fun of me for it, he sat me down one day, very serious and told me I needed help.

I thought he was going to commit me. I thought I was going to be that girl that everyone in school was going to remember as the crazy chick that got locked up. Then Rhino handed me a list.

The list was numbered, and had six things on it. The title was:_ A Glitch's Rules That She MUST Follow in Order to Survive Being a Glitch._ The list read as follows;

1\. Safety First

2\. Tell me everything

3\. Follow the script

4\. Seriously, I must know everything

5\. No interfering

6\. I'm not even joking, I demand every detail.

* * *

That list confirmed it for me. I didn't need any other friends, when the one I did have believed in me, even when I could scarcely believe it myself. Rhino saved my sanity, and for the most part; glitching was never really brought up again. Every now and then, though, we would find ourselves deep in discussion: when he'd found photos of the cast and had asked me to confirm those were the people I'd seen, (I HAD seen bow and arrow dude before; he'd been in THOR!) when Comic-Con came around and everyone went crazy and I didn't feel like SUCH a nut job. Every now and then too, he'd leave me with a new list; of things I needed to say, questions I should ask, and pranks I should pull, for when I glitched again. Just in case. But I wouldn't glitch again for almost a year. (A month into the summer after sophomore year, to be exact.)

* * *

When I glitched for the third time, I was with Rhino, in my backyard. We had been goofing off on my trampoline, and I'd decided to try some sort of complicated flip. Rhino had laughed at me.

"The queen of klutzville probably shouldn't be attempting this." He joked as he pulled over a chair to watch, blue eyes twinkling madly, long blond hair stuck up from all the jumping we'd been doing. I rolled my eyes, ignored him, went for it, and failed abysmally. Before my face made contact with the trampoline though, the shove/punch/oxygen theft feeling occurred, and I found myself having face planted, (of course) but not on my trusty trampoline.

From the way the ground moved unsteadily beneath me, I guessed I was either on a boat or plane. When I looked up, I grinned, right into the face of Tony Stark and Captain America.

(Why Stark is Tony Stark and Steve is Captain America, is totally beyond me, but whatevs)

"Hey guys!" I clumsily stood up, starting a little when I realized I'd fallen right at Loki's feet. He glared at me but said nothing. (He did little BUT glare at me.) I scooted away from him, (as much as I loved him, he terrified me,) and smiled at Steve, who looked shocked.

"How did you get here?" He asked.

"I dunno. Does it matter?" I looked around the plane, poking at the parachutes. (Just in case, you know?)

"Nope." Tony answered. "Have a seat, you're more than welcome, whoever you are."

I grinned, sitting on the same side as Loki, (but as far away as possible.) Steve stared at me confused for a bit longer before turning to face the pilots. Stark stood next to him.

"Saying anything?" I heard Fury ask through the speaker.

"Not a word." Romanoff answered. She hesitated slightly before mentioning, "The kid you were looking for is here."

Fury let loose a heavy sigh. "Just get him here. Both of them. We're low on time."

"I don't like it." Steve whispered quietly to Stark.

I perked up. I recognized that line!

"What? Rock of ages giving up so easy?" Stark answered staring Loki down.

"I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop." Steve confided.

"Still, you're pretty spry, for an old guy. What's your thing, Pilates?" Stark finally removed his gaze from Loki to analyze Steve.

"What?" Steve looked confused.

"It's like calisthenics. You might've missed a few things, you know, doing time as a capsicle."

Because I'm stupid, I'd been quoting their lines along with them, but accidentally spoke out loud along with Stark. He looked at me, surprised.

"How'd you know I was going to say that?" He asked, brows raised.

"I know everything." I grinned, my sophomore almost junior year sass getting the best of me. He rolled his eyes.

Steve bristled at the insult, turning to Stark. "Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." Stark admitted, looking at ME now.

Thunder rumbled, and I could here Romanoff mutter, "Where is this coming from?" But I was watching Loki. So was Steve.

"What? Are you afraid of a little lightning?" He asked.

My favorite line, and I couldn't help it. I spoke simultaneously with Loki.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows."

Loki glared at me, Stark catalogued me with his gaze, and Steve looked confused again.

I shrugged. "Like I said, I know everything."

They wouldn't look away, so I counted down. "Three, two one..."

At one, the plane's door swung open to reveal the magnificence that is Chris Hemsworth, (cough cough Thor,) who reached for Loki before flinging both of them from the plane. Unfortunately for me, seconds before they jumped out, Loki's hand gripped my shoulder and I tumbled out after them, Loki releasing me almost immediately to freefall to earth. The jerk.

I figured, from previous experience, that my glitch instinct would kick in to protect me from crash-landing back to earth. I was right. (Praise the Lord.) My glitch instinct did not protect me from the surface of my trampoline though. Which is a bummer.

When my face recognized the rubbery feeling of my trampoline, and I heard Rhino's laughter, I jerked into a sitting position to stare, eyes huge, at Rhino. When he calmed down enough to look at me, his laughter died quickly. "What?"

"It just happened." I said, the words falling out in one big jumble. Being my best friend, he still understood. He jumped up.

"Did you just?"

I nodded.

He hopped up onto the trampoline to sit right in front of me.

"Tell me everything."

So I did.

* * *

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**~CLC~**

**~CLC~**


	5. Interruptions

_**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**_

* * *

I was starting to realize that my glitching out had a lot to do with my clumsiness, and I couldn't decide whether or not that was a good thing, seeing as how OFTEN I was clumsy. I tried to be more careful, but not three months later and I glitched out yet again.

This time, though, it wasn't because I tripped over something. There was no dramatic falling due to gravity. Nope, it was simple claustrophobia.

Because it's always a good idea for someone who's severely claustrophobic to play hide and seek and choose to hide under one's sink. Which as a junior in high school, and being old enough to drive, I should probably have realized.

Due to the panicked state I found myself in, I didn't even realize I'd glitched until I notice the shoes.

* * *

I was under a table.

And not just any table.

Those weren't just any shoes I saw in front of me.

Boots. Red boots that could belong to none other than STEVE.

I slowly rotated to get a read on the other shoes. I saw really cute black lace up boots that were DEFINITELY Tasha's, (I'd begun calling them by their character names, I realized that in this world, their actor names didn't exist; they were just Steve and Loki and Tasha,) along with a few other pairs of shoes that I knew belonged to the rest of the Avengers crew.

I thought about revealing myself. Then I decided not to, instead choosing to be a creeper and hide under the table, listening in.

"He really grows on you doesn't he?" Banner joked, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Yeah he grows on you. Like a bad fungus.

"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor. What's his play?" That was Spangles, yes it was. And next,

"He has an army, called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth, in return I suspect for the tesseract."

"An army." Captain America clarified. "From outer space." His voice was dry, and the look he shot Romanoff was deadpan. (I didn't see, I was just remembering, the film version of this in my world had been out for awhile, and I'd seen it...a few times.)

"So he's building another portal." Banner spoke up. "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor interrupted.

"He's an astrophysicist." Banner explained.

"He's a friend."

"Loki has him under some sort of spell," Romanoff explained. "Along with one of ours." Her voice went kind of awkward at the end, and I winced. Bow and arrow guy, no!

"I want to know why Loki let us take him." The captain interceded. "He's not leading an army from here."

The Captain asking the important questions. That's why he wears the pants you know. Or…tights? Either way, I'm not complaining!

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki." Banner brought up. "That guy's brain is a bag of cats. You can smell the crazy on him."

"Have care how you speak. Loki may be beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother."

"He killed 80 people in two days." Romanoff deadpanned.

"He's adopted." Thor hedged.

"And that's the problem!"

Only when silence followed the statement did I realize that I was the one that had spoken.

Ah, well. I'd already blown my cover; it was too late now.

"I can't believe you just said that!" I tried to straighten, the loud thud my head made against the bottom of the table reminding me of where I was.

"I mean, talk about being beyond reason, you ever think maybe you drove him to his madness? If I had a wishy washy brother like you, I'd likely to go insane too!" I made no move to crawl out from under the table: i didn't have to. After a moment a hand gripped one of my ankles and I was sliding out from underneath the table, too surprised by the suddeness of it all to put up a fight. I smiled cheekily up at the man who glared down at me.

"Stark! Long time no see, am I right?"

"What is with you?" He snapped, arms crossed.

I sat up and sent him back a frown of my own. "What? It's not like I can control it!"

Thor stepped forward menacingly, which I didn't notice really (Too busy looking at those arms, I mean c'mon, somebody lifts!) but I did notice the Captain coming to stand in front of me. "Calm down, Thor, she's a friendly. We think."

"I totally am." I interjected. "Ask Fury."

"What was it that you mentioned before?" Thor asked, brows furrowed.

"Ah, yes. As I was saying." I focused my mind back to my previous topic, and pointed a finger at Thor.

"You. Your entire lives, you have been the golden boy, with Loki stuck in you shadow. And that doesn't excuse his current behavior, that's not what I'm saying, _but_ maybe if you'd picked a side, he wouldn't be as messed up. His crazy ain't your fault; he probably would've gone crazy anyway,"I freely admitted.

"But you made mistakes along the way with him, mostly the whole, "let's protect him and blow him off in the same sentence!" Thor winced, and I sighed.

"I mean c'mon man, either he's your brother or he isn't. Waffling back and forth is only going to mess him up further. You can't disown him every time he kills 80 people in two days, then hug on him the next second. That's going to give anyone a complex."Thor nodded, as if he understood, to a point. I shrugged.

"Sorry to interrupt. You" I looked to Banner, "were going to talk mechanics, and Stark was going to come in and you were going to have a bro moment, so proceed." I waved my hands elegantly and stepped back, assuming they'd simply resume their conversation. (which, they didn't.)

Stark observed me. His staring, along with the ones I was receiving from the rest of the room made me fidget. "No." He finally said.

"What?"

Stark pushed me into a chair, and gripping the arms leaned over to look me in the eye.

"Tell me who you are, and what's going on, right now." He hissed. He seemed a bit angry.

I shook my head. Then I paused, what would it hurt…but there were rules. I shook my head again.

"Listen, you little brat," Stark bit out angrily. "I don't have time for this. Tell me what you know before I,"

"Before you what, Stark?" Fury strode into the room. "Before you frighten a child to death? Seems like you've already done that."

Stark stood, and I took a deep breath, surprised to realize I was actually trembling. I sniffed. I was near tears as well.

Suddenly, this wasn't as fun, and I realized, that while it might be fun for me, because I was still thinking of this as just a movie, this wasn't fun and games for them. People had actually DIED. Their planet was actually in danger, and while I was goofing off, they were working on a time frame, trying to save it. I could get Stark's anger, once I thought about it, and then I felt bad.

I didn't often think things through. I was a high-schooler. Thinking things through wasn't a part of our DNA. I bit my lip.

Someone bent down in front of my chair, and I refused to look at them, at least until I heard a soft, "Hey." My eyes widened and I looked up with a jerk.

"Coulson!" I blurted out, and Coulson smiled. "That would be me. I'm sure you don't want to keep interrupting these guys, they've got work to do, so maybe I could give you a tour?"

I nodded eagerly. A free tour of the Helicarrier from my favorite character? Sold, let's go! Stark's mean interrogation was forgotten as I jumped up and followed Coulson out of the room. I turned before I stepped out into the hallway, pointing at Banner. "Iridium." Then I pointed and Stark. "Stabilizing agent. Go!"

I turned to follow Coulson out, grinning as I overheard Banner begin to speak.

"What do they need the Iridium for?"

Stark huffed. "It's," a pause, then a reluctant, "a stabilizing agent." I smirked, then focused on my super cool tour, blatantly ignoring the fact that it was a ploy to get me to open up. Who cares? Coulson and a tour! Plus, I wasn't going to say anything! I know my rights!

* * *

It was the end of the tour a while later when I broke. These spies seriously knew their business. Coulson hadn't even been prying, asking simple non intrusive questions when suddenly I caught his eye, and spontaneously burst into tears. Coulsons eyes had widened in surprise, but he was efficient. As I slid to the ground, Coulson squatted down to maintain our eye contact.

"What?" He asked. "Tell me." His voice was soft, and inviting, and I broke. Could you blame me? It was COULSON.

"I know how this ends." I blubbered, all rules flying out the window. "All of this, it's not my world. I'm from a universe, an alternate one, where this," I waved my arms around, "this is just a movie. Everyone of you are actors; Your name is Clark, and you play Coulson, and Fury's name is Sam and Tony's name is Robert,"

Coulson crinkled his nose. "I can't see Stark as a Robert."

His comment calmed me down somewhat, and I let out a surprised laugh. "It actually suits him, in my world anyway."

Coulson thought over my words, head tilted and eyes directed to the floor, as if he were mentally reviewing my file: every time I'd appeared, what I said, how I acted. Then suddenly he nodded. "Well, what you're saying is definitely a possibilty. Enough crazy things have happened that we can just file this as one more. How does the whole, back and forth thing work though?"

"I'm not sure." I shrugged, relieved. Someone believed me. "I call it glitching out. Most of the time, I just trip, or fall, or do something else clumsy, and then all of a sudden I'm here and not there, and vice versa."

Coulson nodded. "I believe you." We sat there for a few moments, then Coulson smiled. "So, is it a good movie?"

I laughed, though I still sounded a little weepy, "It's amazing. I've only seen it like a BILLION times, and" I looked at Coulson, eyes brimming over again, and he observed me intently. "You know how this ends," He inferred, and he winced slightly as he thought of something.

"I don't live to see the end, do I?" I shook my head, lip trembling. Coulson nodded.

"Are there any other casualties?" He asked, and I shook my head, that, at least, good news.

Coulson thought about that, then nodded. "Alright. That's fine then."

I was a little shocked at how well Coulson took the news of his future demise, and he could tell. He smirked, though it was a little strained. "There's always the possibilty of not making it to the end of a mission when you do my kind of work. If everyone else lives, how can I argue with those odds?

I thought about that. Then I thought about something else. It was too late. I'd blurted out the whole story, broke almost all of the rules in one fell swoop, but if I could save Coulson, then it would be worth it. I opened my mouth but Coulson guessed where my train of thought had gone, and was already shaking his head. "No. Don't tell me what happens next. Or anyone, for that matter."

"But," I tried,

"No. I don't want to mess up this timeline. I'd prefer the odds you've mentioned over the version where I live and Loki wins." I shook my head, and tried to stop the tears, and Coulson smiled softly.

"Hey." He patted my shoulder comfortingly. "I do believe you, alright? And I'm okay with this."

"Okay." I sniffed It was weird. I'd spent the better part of two hours with the man, and I felt so deeply connected to him. It didn't make all that much sense to me; but maybe that was simply the magic that was Coulson. Maybe that's why he was such a loved character.

I fixed my face, and stood, Coulson standing as well.

"So. You tell me. What next?" Coulson smiled, and I laughed. I looked at a clock on the wall and grimaced. "You should probably go back to the command center."

Coulson sent me a searching look, then nodded. "Alright. Maybe I'll see you later."

I grimaced, and Coulson winced. "Maybe not."

He marched off, and I stood there for a moment, before I started walking. I wanted to be as far away as possible from the blast.

I still fell down, which triggered my glitch.

* * *

When I got home, I started to rethink….everything.

It was all fun and games, at first. But the more times I returned, the deeper into the film I got, and all of a sudden the movie was no longer just a movie.

It wasn't my world, but it was another world, with real people, and real danger, and for a moment….I didn't want to go back.

But only for a moment. Then I got over that; (more Avengers? Gimmee.) Of course, as luck would have it, I grew out of my awkwardness, and so the glitching out became almost nonexistent, and I wouldn't glitch again for six months.

* * *

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**~CLC~**


	6. Caged

_**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**_

* * *

Glitch five occurred when I was in prison.

That's right, you heard me. PRISON.

I hadn't done anything wrong! It was an experiment.

Devon (mah bro,) had a friend who worked part time as a security guard for Harvard Law, and the school had its own temporary little mini lockup. He hooked me up, got his friend to let me stay overnight in the lock up so I could see what prison was like. It was rather easy to convince said friend seeing as it was spring break and no one was at school anyway.

Plus, apparently, since I was graduating high school a year early it meant I was responsible or something. Sure, let's go with that.

The first hour was really fun. The second was kind of lame, by the third hour, I was completely bored. I huffed around the room, before slouching on my cot.

Then there was a moment of disorientation, a little bit (a lot) of nausea, and it wasn't MY cot anymore. It was Loki's.

* * *

I was in the cage.

With Loki.

Who was glaring furiously at me. (Can he do anything else?)

Then his face cleared - Which was almost more terrifying.

"Finally." He purred. "I have you all to myself."

I snorted. "You almost didn't. What was with throwing me out of a plane?" I complained. It had been a few hours for him since the incident. For me, it had been years...but I was still mad about it. "I'm only human. I could've died!" I glared at him. He smirked.

"But you did not." He stated the obvious, his brows furrowing. "Why is that, I wonder?"

I snorted. Like I was going to tell HIM anything.

"Barton told me nothing of you." Loki took a few steps towards me. "He couldn't tell me, more like, except for the interesting little tidbit that you just appeared in front of the tesseract, mere minutes before I did myself. Can you explain that?" He pressed, hands behind his back.

I shrugged, crossing my arms. "Not really." I answered honestly. "I still haven't figured it out myself."

"You shouldn't be here." Loki tilted his head, and I nodded in agreement. "The real question I suppose," Loki mused, sounding surprisingly normal for a crazy psychopath, "is not how you got here, but what your plan is." He moved until he was standing right in front of me. I leaned back against the cage so I could look up at him.

"My plan?" I almost laughed. "I don't have a plan."

"So you say." Loki smirked. "And yet you've turned up at the most inoportune times. Whether or not you're a threat, you are most certainly a nuisance. But are you a bumbling nuisance or an interfering one?"

I considered the options. "Which one gets to live?"

Loki laughed. I don't think he meant to, he looked as I surprised as I was when it happened.

"Neither," said Loki simply. His honesty was surprising, so I awarded him, with more honesty.

"I don't think I could interfere even if I wanted to, this thing seems to be right on schedule, even with my interference, as you've so eloquently put it." I looked around the cage. "Has Romanoff been by yet?"

Loki stiffened, and suddenly the amiable man I'd been speaking with disappeared. His blue eyes flashed frighteningly and hands slammed against either side of my head, shaking our shared prison. "Where are you coming from?" He hissed, his face inches from my own. "How do you know of things before they occur? Where were you before you showed up here? Are you coming from Midgard? Are you traveling the realms? Who are you?" The questions came one after the other, giving me no chance to respond until he'd asked everything he'd wanted to, breathing harshly.

I took a deep breath. "I'm going to assume Romanoff's already been by, then." I began lightly. He eyes narrowed, and I quickly continued.

"And to answer your other questions, I'm coming from earth. Or, er, Midgard. But not this Midgard. It's a different Midgard."

Which was probably the stupidest decision I've ever made; telling a crazy psycho my big secret, but if anyone would believe me or even just make sense of this whole debacle, it would be this nutbag.

He considered me. "Interdimension then." The cordial man from before reappeared, now that he was finally getting somewhere. He removed himself from my personal space, and I slid my hands under my thighs so he couldn't see how badly they were shaking.

"Sure," I agreed. "I don't really know what that means, but I'll go with it."

"Which could account for some of your knowledge of the future, it could potentially be that past in your dimension." He began to pace, the circumference of the room. "But what of the Shield intelligence you've gathered? The word for word conversations you can replay? The," He paused as something else occurred to him.

"You know how this is going to end." The crazy man was back, and I took a second to mourn the kind, scientific man who probably wouldn't be returning, not if the crazed look in his eye was an indication. "You can tell me what they're going to do."

I was already shaking my head. I shouldn't have said anything. Now he was going to blue brain me, or I was going to die, or SOMETHING, and I was too young to be dead.

"Tell me." He began to stride towards me, and I stood uncertainly. I had literally nowhere to hide. "TELL ME."

When he was seconds from grabbing me and shaking me down, The Hellicarrier shook angrily, and he was thrown to one side while I was thrown to the other.

Blue-brained Barton must have just begun his attack then.

Wonderful.

Loki stood hastily and moved to stand in front of the door, to our cage, having seemed to have forgotten all about me in his thirst to continue with this awful plan.

It wasn't five minutes before an agent arrived, working hastily on the controls. I stood slowly, only to fall to the ground again when a roar thundered through the Helicarrier.

The Hulk was awake.

* * *

I made a noise when I fell, reminding Loki that he wasn't alone. He turned to smirk at me.

"I do not need your confirmation to know that I will win this war," he gloated, and I snorted.

"Do not tell me that I will lose, little human." He snarled, "How can I, with the army I have coming?"

"I would tell you a thing, Loki," I snarled.

Because, you see, I love Loki the character. Loki the person? Yeah - I didn't really care for him.

I also had this thing about being called little. Disregarding the fact that i WAS pretty short - it was obvious enough, it didn't need to be spoken of.

"But someone far better with the English language than I will put in your place soon enough. And yeah - you might have won this battle, but you're going to lose the war. Whether it's today, or tomorrow, or three years from now in a revolt, you will lose."

"Really?" Loki sneered. "Why say that?"

"Because," I pulled myself up to my feet. "Your hearts not in this fight. I don't know where your heart might BE, but I know that you have one, and I know it doesn't want this. THINK Loki, LISTEN to the most important part of you. You don't want this. Stop it now, before its too late."

And that's how I pissed Loki off. But before I pissed Loki off...I think I got to him.

Seconds before his face contorted in fury, I saw his eyes light up with, the faintest flicker of hope. Then the anger took over, and he probably would've punched me in the face if his minion hadn't opened the door to the cage at just that moment.

He turned from me in a huff, with a whirl of his cool jacket.

I looked frantically towards the door where Thor was supposed to appear and he showed up right on time, rushing to stop his baby brother. It was less than 30 seconds before Thor was imprisoned, I was stuck with the blonde idiot, and Loki was free.

Loki smirked insolently at the two of us.

"Are you ever not going to fall for that?" he goaded, and I was so angry I joined in with him.

That was when Thor noticed me, and he shot me a look filled with confusion. Loki shot me a nasty look, and I stuck my tongue out at both of them, and turned away, seeking the comfort of the cot I'd rode in on.

I knew Coulson was coming, and I knew what he'd try, and I also knew that rule number five (or was it three?) forbade me from interfering, but I could care less at that point, so seconds before Coulson became a Coulson-Kabob, I screamed, "COULSON, BEHIND YOU!"

Unfortunately, Coulson only had enough time to turn partway before the scepter had made it's way clean through his body. So I'd either saved his life or killed him faster.

In the aftermath, while Thor was shouting, I turned away. Loki watched Thor's reaction closely as he prepared to let the cage go. My hands fell to grip the edges of the cot tightly.

"Two problems, one solution." Loki smirked as he pressed the button and the cage went free-falling to earth.

Fortunately for me, I landed on a cot. A hard, unyielding cot that smelled rather disgustingly of pee, but at least it wasn't wherever Thor had ended up.

* * *

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**~CLC~**


	7. Coulson

_**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**_

* * *

There was a 3 month time gap between the last time I had glitched and the next time I would glitch, and something very important had occurred during that month. Well, two things, to be exact. If you want to be_ really_ specific, 3 things had occurred.

The first was that I graduated high school (a year early, which means I'm smart or something.) The second was that I had a birthday, and turned 17. So obviously, as a (nearly) adult with a diploma, I was very much over my Avengers obsession…as well as my clumsiness.

Neither was true.

The last time I glitched was not my fondest memory; despite getting to see Loki all up close and personal. I tried to block it from my memory, though Rhino forced me to include it in my "Glitch Log." Seeing as the Glitching episodes occurred so randomly, and with such large time breaks in between, Rhino insisted we keep everything written down, so I wouldn't forget.

Maybe I wanted to forget, though - just a little.

Nonetheless, it was added to the journal, and then I set it aside and continued on with my life; focusing on graduating, and turning 17, and my after high school plans, of which my mother was thrilled about, my father? Not so much.

It was during an argument with my parents that I actually glitched next. Which would bring me to my third thing, though I think I'll keep that to myself for the moment. The argument was pretty normal, my father didn't agree with my life decisions, but the glitch was...weird. It was weird, because I didn't trip, or fall, or panic. I just simply felt an overwhelming urge to be anywhere but there….and then I was.

Specifically, I was in what looked to be a medic bay, with four agents currently with guns pointed at my face. I froze, hands raised, then a weary voice spoke up,

"At ease boys. She's a friend."

I perked up, and the agents slowly lowered their weapons, making a path for me that led straight to a white cot, with a body currently loaded on it. A bandaged, weak looking, but very alive Coulson.

* * *

He sent me a small smile, and I bounded over.

"Long time no see," he joked, and I smirked.

"It's actually been a while for me. But you're alive, which is weird."

Coulson furrowed his brow. "Yes. I distinctly remember trying to save the day when a very obnoxious teenager told me to watch out, seconds before I was stabbed."

My eyes widened, and I winced, almost certain he was talking about me. He continued. "Of course, if said teenager hadn't done so, I would've died. The Doctor said the wound missed my heart by less than a millimeter, and instead of death, I'm looking at being up and about in just a few days. Said I was very lucky." Coulson focused his eyes on me. "I told him luck had nothing to do with it."

"Who's the hero now?" I joked.

Coulson looked at me seriously. "You are." Then he sighed. "But it's not over yet." He looked over to the TV screen that everyone watched urgently, where Loki's battle on Manhattan had begun.

He sighed. "I should be out there. And if I hadn't been an idiot I would be."

"You're not an idiot, Coulson. You're just…"

"An idiot?" he concluded for me, and I laughed.

"Alright, it was a pretty stupid move." I admitted.

He smiled, then winced. "It's painful?" I asked stupidly. Obviously, it was!

He shrugged. "It's not pleasant." Coulson smiled slyly at me. "You mind explaining more in depth how this whole glitch thing works? Distract me from my pain?"

"You're fishing." I accused. "But you're also in pain, so why not?" I pulled a chair closer to his bed. "What do you want to know?"

"When did it start?"

I sighed. "I was 14, arguing with a friend of mine about the whole Loki-villian thing. He was against it, I was for it. Then all of a sudden I glitched, ended up in Pegasus, made myself look like an idiot, piqued Loki's interest, then glitched out."

Coulson tilted his head. "How old are you now?"

"I just turned 17."

Coulson looked surprised. "That's quite the time lapse between glitches. How many times have you glitched so far?"

"5?" I counted in my head. "This is number six, I believe."

"So time passes for you when you're not here, but when you are here, no time passes for you? That's very odd."

"You're telling me!" I grimaced.

"Will you do this for the rest of your life, do you think?" He asked.

"I assume," I paused, using all the scientific knowledge I had to come up with my conclusion, "that once the movie ends, I'll stop glitching." Coulson nodded, thinking over everything I'd told him. It was two minutes before he asked another question.

"So you're not glitching on purpose?" He finally asked. I shook my head. "Do you think you could?" He prodded. I hesitated.

"I think I might be able to. I did this time. I was arguing with my parents, and I just wanted to be somewhere else…and then I was here."

Coulson tilted his head. "Do you have any symptoms when you glitch?"

"In the beginning I did; nausua, dizziness, I couldn't breathe for a moment, but each time I glitch, it gets a little easier. This time it was just kind of a…whoosh."

Coulson smirked. "Oh no, you're evolving." I stuck my tongue out at him, and he laughed, then winced again.

"I'm sorry, I'm supposed to be helping not making you worse!"

Coulson waved a hand. "It's fine, you're actually helping a lot. Have you ever glitched from one place to another but in the same "world?" he asked.

"No." Then I hesitated. "But I've never tried."

"Do it then." He gestured lightly, and I sighed, heavily, but stood. "Fine, but where am I going?" Coulson's gaze darted to the TV, and I grinned. My first intentional Glitch and I'm heading to the middle of a warzone? Eh, sounded about right.

"Alright, I'll try."

I closed my eyes, thought so hard I strained a brain muscle, and….nothing. I opened my eyes. "Didn't work." I complained, and Coulson rolled his eyes.

"Try again," he encouraged.

I huffed, but closed my eyes. "Think about when you were arguing with your parents and wanted to escape, about how you felt in that moment." Coulson spoke softly. "Focus on that feeling for a minute, let only that emotion fill you up. Then visualize where you want to go, and paint that image in your mind. Color in that image with that feeling of escape, and let it all go."

I did as Coulson directed, splitting my attention, and as all of me focused on that image, on those emotions, Coulson's voice faded to the background, and then for a moment all that I heard was wind. The wind was quickly drowned out by the sound of explosions, and screaming, and the pounding of feet on pavement. I opened my eyes.

* * *

I'd done it. I'd purposefully glitched!

I eyed the view in front of me, first in awe, then dismay. This was so…not cool at all. In the film, it's awesome. But it's only awesome because I'm watching safely from a comfy chair in an air conditioned theater, or at home. This…standing in the midst of a battle…it's terrifying. And I very much did NOT like it.

Luckily, somewhat quickly, a panicked citizen ran into me and pushed me down…and I glitched.

So. Accidental glitching wasn't out of the question, but I could glitch at will if I so chose. Odd.

To steal the words and wisdom of Coulson…I was evolving. I was changing.

I'm not one for change. And if I can avoid it, hide from it, ignore it, I will.

So when I got back, even though Rhino had demanded to know everything…that, I kept to myself. I pretended it didn't happen so well, that I pretty much forgot about it. But then the next accidental glitch happened, and there was no escaping the fruitfulness of such an ability.

If I'd known where I'd be the next glitch, I for sure would've practiced. Unfortunately, I didn't, so I found myself woefully unprepared for what happened next.

* * *

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**~CLC~**


	8. To The Rescue

_**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**_

* * *

I'm not going to lie to you guys.

I exercise. Ish. But after high school, I found myself in a new hell.

Boot Camp. And not just wimpy army boot camp, ARMY RANGER BOOT CAMP, which is the hardest, stupidest thing I've ever done.

To be honest, they almost didn't admit me. Because I was a weak, wimpy girl, you know. (I wasn't 18 yet either, which was an issue, but I had parental permission and was already graduated, so there wasn't much they could do on that front, though they DID bring it up.)

I was forced to fall back on the names of my parents, (which I've never done before in my LIFE and I hated it!) until they admitted me. Unfortunately, getting admitted was the easy part. Boot Camp SUCKED, but I survived that; it was the regular training everyone went through, and only lasted like two months, but then Army Rangers spend double the original boot camp on a specified training program, and it was horrifying.

The hazing was awful. I was belittled, mistreated, and was worked to the bone. I considered leaving, but knew at the end of the day that I couldn't quit. My mom had warned me this would happen. She told me what to expect, and for her, she survived. It was probably way worse for her. So I persevered. The best piece of advice she gave me ended up being the thing that saved my army career,

_"Men and women are built differently, obviously. Men are going to automatically excel in different areas than women, and women vice versa. Where women are weak, men are strong, and so on. Some areas overlap. But our differences are the reason it's so vital we have women in the army as well as men. Our differences are the reason we should not discriminate in the work field or anywhere, because where men fall short women will pick up the slack, and with men and women working together, we have no weak spots. We become an unstoppable force, and we need an unstoppable force in our defense program more than anywhere else. Don't ever give up. There will be a moment, during a task, or mission, or training exercise, in which all the men in your group will fall short, and only you will be able to fill that gap. Wait for that moment, then embrace that moment with all the strength and humility that you possibly can, and you save the day. It might be the first day, it might be the last, but that moment will come, and with that moment will come the respect of your peers. And if you stay humble and strong, your entire camp, you will leave camp with the best friends and strongest support system you will ever have, and they will defend you to their dying breath, for the rest of your life."_

It was good advice, but it seemed like it would never happen. I should not have doubted my mother's superior intellect, because that moment did come, but surprisingly, it occurred during none of the moments my mother had mentioned.

It went down during a random weekend off, about a month into training; I'd saved two kids who'd fallen down a mine shaft, (call me cliche,) while the rest of my crew had stood above ground, doing nothing at all. Unfortunately, said mine shaft had been weak, and collapsed on top of me. Fortunately, I glitched before I could suffer any damage.

* * *

I suppose I should thank Glitching; it saved my life. But glitching also dropped me back into the Avengers Universe, right in front of a very angry female cop, who accidentally ran into me, and then promptly…passed out. The woman was my size, and no longer any help, so…..

I may or may not have stolen her uniform. I am a horrible soldier, I realize, but people would listen to me if I was in a position of authority, and I would give it back! Maybe.

Once I was fully garbed, I began directing frantic civilians to places I knew would be safe, and when I saw other officers I gave them the same orders, trying to make my way to where I knew the Avengers would be.

By the time I got there only Cap was left, everyone else having dispersed, but a cop duo, one cute and the other older, stared at the chaos in panic, mostly uncertain of what to do. I slid up next to them just as Cap bounced in front of them and began to give them orders.

The older cop snorted and demanded why they should listen to him, and then all of a sudden Cap was fighting with Chitauri soldiers and being quick about it as well. Cap struck a pose once the last enemy went down and in the silence following, I began to clap enthusiastically.

(Boot Camp had not smothered the awkward geek out of me, and if Boot Camp couldn't do it...well, it looked like I was stuck.)

Cap glared at me, then he did a double take, and when he realized he recognized me, moved to grab my arm, but before he could move, I repeated his instructions, saluted, sassily concluded with an "Aye, Aye, Captain," and ran off to follow through.

The Chitauri army were focused on the ten block radius that circled the Tower, and consequently, the Avengers.

They weren't so much focused on taking out the humans so much as they were on taking out the Avengers at the time.

I wondered what would happen if the Avengers lost, if they were taken out; would the focus shift then? Was that when the real massacre would begin? Fortunately I was too busy moving the masses to consider such a thing in depth.

I couldn't entirely turn off my brain, though, and it was during this time that I realized a few things.

The first was that while I was well aware of what was going on; who the heroes and villains were, but for those watching, it wasn't so clear cut.

The second was that while the fighting was primarily with the Avengers, it didn't mean that it wasn't causing human casualties all the same.

I fireman carried a woman who'd broken her leg in the pandemonium to safety, and got a little upset. When I helped drag a man out from underneath a flipped car, I got kind of angry. But when I held a mother whose son had been killed by a Chitauri gun; I was pissed. A cute cop had insisted on being my backup, and he'd followed me as I helped move the people, but I excused myself from him at that point, handing the weeping mother to him in order to distract him so I could leave without his noticing, and I stepped away, heading back into the danger zone, and filing away his name for future reference. I had a frost giant to yell at.

* * *

I didn't realize until halfway up the stairs to the penthouse of Stark Tower that I could have just glitched to the top.

So I rolled my eyes, internally made fun of myself, and then glitched the rest of the way. It was there that I was so blessed to witness the pounding of the butthole Loki, by my new hero, The Hulk.. When the Hulk took his leave, I stepped forward to glare down at the whimpering form of Loki. His eyes were glazed, and I'm sure he was seconds from passing out, so he would miss my whole impassioned speech, but I didn't care. Whether he heard it or not, it had to be said. I threw the item I had still clutched in my hand. It was the bloody shoe print of the little boy I'd just watch die.

"That belonged to a little boy caught in the middle of your little takeover. He was only three years old, Loki, and now he's dead. One of your stupid Alien Allies killed him."

I scoffed, turning away, missing the momentary pained look that passed over his face. "I'm sure in your infinite wisdom, you planned for casualties, but did you plan for that? Were you expecting those kinds of casualties?

"Innocent people Loki, people, babies who've done nothing to you. Dead, because you took it into your head that you wanted to rule them. Why? Because you wanted attention? Because you wanted to show up your brother? Because you wanted a crown and a weaker species bowing to your every whim? Because you wanted to show the idiot who wants nothing to do with you and could care less about what you decide to do unless it affects HIM negatively? Well, you failed, on all counts, buddy. God!" I whirled to face him.

"I spent so much of my time defending you, and then that little boy died in my arms, and I realized, as much as you might be in the wrong, and as much as you might've had a bad childhood, his death is still on you. His blood is on your hands."

I looked down at my hands, covered in the blood of Loki's victims, and grimaced. "It's all fun and games until someone else's blood is on your hands and you've probably contracted aids at some point." I closed my eyes for a minute, then opened them, staring blankly at nothing.

"I'm trying to fully understand this, Loki, and I can't. None of the Avengers are your enemies either. They haven't done anything to you; except your brother, and he doesn't even go here. Plus, he's your brother. And I have a big brother, I get it, sometimes he pisses me off so badly that all I want to do is exact my revenge in the most public and evil of ways ever, consequences be damned, but c'mon man? An entire planet? You're not stupid."

I paused when he shifted slightly, though the rest of him didn't move. "That's what makes you such a force to be reckoned with, you know. The fact that you're intelligent. But you must've done your research. Earth has a habit of beating the odds, and you decide to take it on to what, prove yourself to your family? Make them hate you more? I sincerely don't get it, dude, and I've tried again and again to understand where you're coming from, and I just can't.

"You had choices, Loki. You could've conceded gracefully, could've started a new world from scratch, heck you could've taken control of a planet, even us, benevolently, and we probably would've acquiesced for the most part. You had choices, and you made the choice where people who had nothing to do with your issues died."

I stood up and began to pace, not realizing that Loki's eyes were focused solely on me.

"And here's the thing. You should be able to relate to us, to the ants. Because while you might be big news here, you were an ant on Asgard. The silly younger prince, good with words and not much else, a girly profession nothing to boast about, and a big brother who treated who like a child or otherwise ignored you. You don't think Earth feels like that? Instead of tearing us down, you could've found refuge here. I guarantee it.

"If you'd just appeared, we'd have adopted you, but the good kind not the bad kind, and we would've accepted you as an Ally. I'm not saying you had to be a hero, you know? I'm just saying you had to agree to help when it suited you, and we would leave you alone out of gratitude. You would've joined the ranks of the Avengers, not worshipped, although some probably still would've, we've got plenty of crazies around here - but you would've been respected, and seen, everything you didn't get on Asgard. Strength isn't everything here.

"Look at Tony; he's like an angry gremlin with a happy trigger finger and an alcohol problem. And people love him! But no; instead of meeting us at our level, you decided to take us out by force."I sighed, seating myself on the floor.

"Honestly, you could've appeared, with that horrible dramatic flair you're known for, flashed that pretty smile, and most of Earth would've fallen at your feet. But now you've killed. And Earth doesn't take kindly to terrorists. We take care of our own. But as much as my gut is telling me this battle was all you, I don't think ANY of it really was. I think you were used."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanos." Loki jerked, eyes widening in surprise then leveling into a glare, and I still wasn't fully aware. "He's the mastermind here, obviously, and I'm sure once he laid out the pros and cons you agreed. But we don't know what happened. There are theories, a lot of them anti-Loki. But I have to wonder."

I finally deigned to look at Loki, who glared angrily at me, and something weird happened. His eyes, a glacial blue, a color I'd become accustomed to over the course of his glaring at me through the film, changed. The blue; it was as if an invisible vacuum had been pressed right up against his eye socket and the blue was being sucked out…leaving only bright, vivid green.

I had NOT been expecting that, and I scrambled back in surprise.

It wasn't just the color of Loki's eyes that changed, either. His entire face changed, morphed, the lines eased, the anger ceased, and he looked….years younger.

"Loki?" I asked slowly.

He lifted his head to take in his surroundings, and then looked to me, eyes bright. "Did I lose?" He asked almost hopefully, his demeanor that of the cordial man I remembered vaguely from the cage.

I nodded.

He sighed, then let his head fall back to the ground, closing his eyes.

I stood up slowly, but Loki didn't move. Then I heard the thruster noises from Tony's suit, and I looked to the open window, and sure enough, Tony stood there, one arm clenching the back of Steve's costume, the two sending me an odd look. I shrugged. Then Tasha was walking towards us, then Thor appeared via the air with Barton flung over his shoulder, mostly unconscious. Tasha helped Barton down and they stood there, worn and battered, but victorious.

It was a beautiful moment, even better than the moment when they stood artfully arranged around the just-woken Loki, threateningly. This wasn't a film pose, it was a realistic one, and there wasn't any make up here, or perfect lighting, it was shadowed, and the heroes were exhausted, and hurt, and it was a picture I would hold with me for the rest of my life.

And suddenly, I wanted a moment like that of my own; a moment in which I stood proudly, maybe exhausted, but still standing, in front of a battle that I'd won through my own strength.

So I nodded respectfully to the Avengers, knowing this was the last time I would see them, sent a glance toward the unconscious villain, and turned, glitching home to find a moment of my own.

It was easy to watch movies and bask in the afterglow of a moment not created or fought for by you; but it's different when you sacrificed and fought for a moment of your very own, it's better, brighter, and I was proud to rise from my last glitch to face the shocked faces of my fellow cadets, knowing that the respect in their gazes were not faked or mocking, but instead something I'd earned.

I would always love the Avengers film, but I made a choice in that moment; I would no longer dedicate so much of my time lost in the worlds of others. Instead, I would focus on making my world better and brighter, just by being as active as I could in it.

That was a hard decision to make, but it was one I succeeded in. When I was shipped off to Afghanistan for a year, I went proudly, ready to fight, to do my part.

I came home different, but better. No longer innocent, but still dreaming big dreams. It was good life that I'd created for myself, one I would be happy to live in forever.

I wish I could tell you that it all happy ever after ended there.

It didn't.

* * *

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**~CLC~**


	9. Stuck

_**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**_

* * *

The movie was over. I was a little bummed.

I assumed, since the film had reached its completion, the glitching out would be over. No more helping fight aliens, no more investigating and being snarky with the avengers.

It was over.

Tony Stark wasn't real, he was just a character played by Robert Downey Jr., a guy I've never met, one I'd never fought alongside. Loki didn't need my help, he was just a Norse legend, played by a beautiful British man.

So I grew up. Ish. I was still the first person in line whenever a marvel film came out, and I seemed unable to curb my geeky excitement. But I'd successfully survived my army training, I had a job I adored, had spent the last 2 years trying not to get shot in Afghanistan and had lived long enough to finish my first tour of duty and make it to my brother's wedding.

It was a beautiful wedding; I'd been forced into a dress, some tight black number with no pockets so I was forced to bring a clutch purse thing. Of course, that meant I ended up with everyone's phone in my bag. It was all fine though, because I approved most heartedly of my new sister in law. My mother and father had cried the entire service, and my brother looked so stinking happy.

I was inordinately proud of the life we'd created.

Rhino was there, of course. We were still friends, never having moved forward into dating territory, but we were both happy with that. He sat with me, helping me deal with the older women who felt the need to remind me that I was "next."

I danced twice, once with Rhino, and once with my father…which was rather enlightening.

My father had been against me joining the army. He refused to go to my graduation, and my first tour had started 24 hours later, so this was the first time that we were face to face in nearly two years. At first it was awkward, but then he sighed.

"I didn't agree with your choice of profession at first. You know that. Which is hypocritical of me, but I just wanted you to be safe, of which joining the army is not."  
I sighed. It was a conversation we'd held before, I knew the words almost by heart, but then suddenly, the script changed.

"But," he added. "You did well. You've done well. You're an amazing soldier, better than both your mother and I, but don't tell her I said that." I laughed, and relaxed. "I really am proud of you." I smiled at my dad's earnest expression.

"Thanks, dad." As the song ended he pulled me into a hug, one I returned gratefully, and my mom interrupted us with a small smile.

"Devon and Kaitlyn are leaving, but they wanted to say goodbye. Honey, would you go grab the camera?" Dad nodded, and lumbered off, and mom wrapped an arm around me. "C'mon sweetheart, dad will meet us outside."

Mom led me out of the ballroom. "So, he apologized, right?"

"Yes mother." I rolled my eyes.

"Good." She paused. "You know he's proud of you, right?"

I rolled my eyes again. "Yes mother."

She grinned. "You know I'm proud of you too?"

"Yes mom, I know."

"Good. Now go hug your brother."

I sighed, then smiled, and hugged Kaitlyn. "You are beautiful. Go enjoy yourself, all right?" She beamed, and then I turned and made a face at my big brother, who simply smirked and pulled me into a hug. I squeezed him as hard as I could, and he winced.

"Whoa, baby sister! War has made you tough."

I laughed. "No, that was the army. War has just put it to good use." I teased.

He grinned. "Who would've guessed that the clumsy little punk who rode my coattails would grow up to be a big bad scary soldier?"

"Mom did." I answered promptly, and Devon laughed.

"That's true, but mom knows everything." Devon explained. I nodded.

"That's very true." I agreed.

"Hey." Devon placed a hand on my face, and the moment turned suddenly serious. "Even though you still maintain that weird Loki obsession, even after all these years, I am so proud of you."

I smiled. "Even though you're a punk, you somehow managed to catch the eye of a beautiful lady who agreed to marry you, and now you're going to have fourteen babies and get the parents off my back!"

"But first;" Devon wiggled his eyebrows, "the honeymoon!" I punched him in the shoulder, and he winced then grinned.

"Seriously girly. I'm proud of you." He pulled me into another hug.

When he let go, I grinned. "I'm proud of us."

Then I winked. "And I ain't ever giving up on Loki."

And as soon as the words left my mouth, my scenery changed. I wasn't standing in front of my big brother, surrounded by my loved ones anymore, I was standing in front of the very person I'd just been speaking about.

* * *

"I thought this was over." I complained, taking in the pristine white room, looking much like an interrogation room, with nothing in it but a table, two chairs, and a huge one way mirror taking up one wall.

Loki sat in one chair, handcuffed to the table, watching me.

I sat down across from him, sighing heavily.

"Now what?" I asked sourly.

"You tell me." Loki retorted.

Which surprised me into silence. Loki wasn't actually a big talker, at least around me. He just glared. This wasn't the Loki I knew before, the one who was hateful and mean, who just looked at me and saw intel, or just another casualty, or later, a threat. This was the Loki I researched all throughout high school, the one I'd only ever got glimpses of: the scholar, wide eyed with a puzzle set before him, (the puzzle being me,) intrigued.

I shrugged. "Why would I know?"

Loki frowned. "You are not with Shield?"

"Nope!" I answered cheerily.

"Then you are with the Avengers." He inferred.

"Wrong." I grinned.

"Who are you and why have they sent you in first?" Loki spoke frostily. (Get it, Frost Giant? I'm funny.)

I relaxed in my chair. "They haven't sent me in. What do you mean first?"

"I assume Shield will send in numerous agents; in order to extract the full story." But Loki spoke slowly, like now maybe he wasn't so sure.

I hesitated. I'd seen the change in him; I knew he hadn't fully been in control. But the Avengers didn't. They fully blamed him for everything, they weren't interested in the full story; they thought they knew everything. As far as I knew they planned on muzzling him and sending him away.

Loki frowned. "They're not sending anyone in, are they?" He guessed shrewdly.

I grimaced, and Loki did something odd. His face fell, but then he shrugged, as if it didn't really bother him, that he was potentially going to be punished for something that may or may not have been entirely his fault.

"What are you doing in here then, if not to interrogate me?" Loki asked lightly.

I shrugged. "Not sure. I don't really have full control of this whole," I gestured vaguely, "glitching thing, yet."

Loki furrowed a brow, but then his face cleared. "Are you speaking of your odd mode of travel?"

I nodded. "Sure, yeah. I think I told you about it, a bit, in the cage?"

Loki's face brightened as he remembered. "Ah, yes, the inter-dimension traveler." He thought for a moment. "Which is how you disappeared before I could question you about your theories you were speaking of before, in Stark Tower."

I blanched. "Oh my god you actually heard that. How much did you hear?" That rant, though it had happened over two years ago, was one that haunted me. I was well aware that I had made no sense, it was a RANT, you're not supposed to make sense during a rant; you're just supposed to let everything.… out. Which I did. Which, apparently Loki overheard.

Loki smirked. "All of it."

I covered my mouth. "Oops."

"It was rather enlightening."

"How?" I rolled my eyes.

"The humans in your dimension are not so off in their theories, for the most part."

Well color me intrigued. "What do you mean for the most part?"

Loki raised a brow. "As amusing as I find you, I'm not about to share my whole life story with a human." Loki made a disgusted face, and I nodded. Yeah, Loki, but not. Still a jerk, at least.

"Who else are you going to tell? No one is going to listen to anything you have to say, not after this." I winced. Now who was the jerk? But Loki took it well.

He shrugged in agreement. "It's much too late for me. Redemption is not in my future." Loki chuckled lowly. "As you said, I had choices. This is the one I chose. I must suffer the consequences."

"But not if you weren't at fault." I argued. "Your cooperation under coercion doesn't make you an accomplice, it makes you a victim."

Loki's voice lowered dangerously. "I am not a victim." He snarled.

I pursed my lips. "Being a victim doesn't make you weak, Loki."

"Doesn't it?" He rasped.

"Perhaps it does," I acquiesced. "But you don't have to stay a victim."

"How?"

"Talk to someone." I urged.

"Whom do you suggest?" He retorted mockingly. "You've just said; no one will listen."

"I will."

That silenced him, at least.

* * *

I made a decision, not knowing if it would work or not: I reached into the clutch that had traveled to the new dimension with me and plopped down Rhino's phone. (I'd have to get him a new one.)

"This is Midgardian technology, so I'm sure it's simple science to you." Loki scoffed, though he did look rather frightened of the device I'd placed down in front of him. I deleted all of the contacts except for my number, and checked the battery. Then I slid it over to Loki's side of the table. He picked it up tentatively. "You should probably hide it somewhere on your person." I suggested. With a twist of his wrist, the phone slid out of view. To where, I didn't know.

"Keep it to contact me." I made another decision, it wasn't like he wasn't going to find out soon. "Thor's taking you back to Asgard. Odin will put you in prison." I tried to use wording that would tempt Loki into contacting me. "I'm sure prison will get tedious quickly, so I give you permission to use this device to torture me when you get bored. Or just to talk." I added quickly at the end.

Then the weirdest thing in the entire world happened. Loki gave me a genuine smile. It was very, very small, and his face was still scratched up and bloody, and he still wore his scuffed up battle armor, but he smiled.

I must've looked entirely shocked, because the smile disappeared.

I shook my head quickly. "I totally saw that!"

"Saw what?" He tried to glower, but it wasn't working on me anymore.

"Oh no, none of that now! You are totally not too far gone Loki Laufeyson, not if you can smile like that!"

Loki was shaking his head now. "You're seeing things."

I laughed. "Try again, dude. I'm not giving up on you just yet, Loki."

I paused, my head tilted to the side. "Interesting."

"Hmm?" Loki asked, confused.

"It's just, right before I glitched for the first time, when you showed up at Pegasus and first brain snatched Barton," Loki nodded to show that he knew what I was talking about. "I said something relatively similar." I shook my head. "Something along the lines of, 'I believe in Loki Laufeyson.'" Another thought came to me then, and I made a small noise of surprise, eyes narrowed. "Weird. I said something similar to that right before I showed up here, too."

There was something niggling on the edge of my conscious, something I was missing, but it was gone before I knew what. I shrugged. "Ah well." I looked back at Loki, who seemed to have come to some sort of horrifying realization while I was lost in thought. "What's with the face?" I asked, confused.

Before Loki could answer though, the door slammed open.

"How did you get in here?" I turned to face the Captain, dirty and still in uniform, his face slightly panicked. Stark hovered behind him, his face filled with suspicion. I opened my mouth to give them my standard answer, (I dunno,) but the door slammed shut before I could speak. I stared confused at the shut door, vaguely hearing the pounding coming from the other side, too focused on the slow drawling voice of Loki behind me.

"Well, this is a most…intriguing situation." I didn't like the undertone in Loki's voice, but when I turned to face him, his face was impassive. I laughed uneasily.

"I guess that means we're done now." I planted my hands on the table and made to rise.

"Your situation…" Loki paused meaningfully, and his voice now matched his face; a coldness that surprised me after the easiness of our conversation just moments before.

I knew when he spoke of my 'situation,' he meant my glitching, so I paused. "I believe I am partially at fault." He confessed, though it sounded more bitter than confessional.

I thought about that for a second. "You made me glitch?" I asked slowly, not liking where this was going, AT ALL.

Loki winced almost imperceptibly. "Not myself, per say."

"What does that mean?" I asked roughly.

"During my," Loki paused, "interlude with my former allies, I was not in full power." Loki searched for the correct words. "I do not like to be restrained." Loki shrugged. "I believe that subconsciously, not even I was aware, for if I had been so then would've been by allies, thusly subconsciously my magic was doing its best to find someone; anyone really, who would intervene on my behalf."

"You were trapped in a situation you couldn't get yourself out of, and needed someone to save you?" I recapped, and Loki flushed lightly, more in anger at my words than embarrassment.

"Partially. And when my magic found no one of such ilk in this dimension,"

"It dimension jumped." I concluded.

Loki nodded. "My magic gave you the ability to jump between dimensions. It opened the door, specifically for you, if you will.

I thought about that, then nodded. That made sense. "And the first time it happened, it was the exact moment where I said that I believed in you." I winced. "I haven't helped you, though."

Loki tilted his head. "Not yet." Then he leaned forward, placing two fingers on my forehead for just a moment; and I felt….a whoosh, I guess. What I usually felt when I glitched. Then he removed his hand, and it was gone.

"What did you do?" I asked, rubbing my forehead furiously.

He shrugged, and smirked, and I felt distinctly uneasy. "I might have need of you in the future."

Which means what?" I glared.

"I simply," Loki paused, "closed the door."

I glared, brows furrowed, then it hit me. "Which means that I'm stuck here, then?"

Loki was silent.

I took that as a yes.

"So I can't go home?" I guessed, and when he didn't move or react, I went ballistic.

"Why would you do that? Take it back, Loki. TAKE IT BACK!"

I leapt across the table, my hands reaching for his throat, but two arms caught me before I could claw his stupid face off, and dragged me away, out of the room. I started screaming, I couldn't leave the room yet, I couldn't, not until Loki TOOK IT BACK, but against my will, whoever had hold of me hauled me out, and then the door slammed shut.

I jerked out of the arms that had been restraining me, reaching for the door only to find it locked. I tugged on the handle a few times, then began banging on the door. When none of that worked, I whirled away to the opposite wall, and collapsed in a conveniently placed chair, my head falling into my hands. Sobs overtook my body, and I let them. That rat BASTARD.

It was some time later before anyone would approach me; and I was pretty much catatonic. I registered the voice, but couldn't properly answer.

"So, we've talked it over, and while we're not altogether sure where you came from, Cap said you were pretty helpful during the battle, and seeing as how pissed you are at Loki,"

I flinched, and the voice, I'm pretty sure it was Tony, softened imperceptibly. "We don't think you're bad news, and since we don't know exactly how you got here, we decided it would just be best if you stayed with us for a while. The Avengers, I mean. We're all gonna crash at my place for a while, so it's really the safest place for you. Thor's gotta go deal with, well, you know, but then he's gonna come back. I think he feels bad. But uh, that's the plan, if it's alright with you?"

"K." I don't remember speaking, but it was my voice that answered.

"Ah, alright then. We're gonna head out in a bit, we just gotta take care of something, then we'll come back for you. You alright with staying here till we're done with, uh, our thing?"

"K." It was my voice again, speaking without conscious decision once more. Weird.

"Alright then. Ok." There were footsteps, like he was leaving, but then he paused again. "By the way, what's your name?"

"K."

"Kay, huh? Alright, I guess it works. Well, we'll be back. You can stay sitting here, or I think Coulson wants to see you, he's in the med bay still. But uh, no rush."

I didn't really break out of my funk until after Stark was long gone, and our conversation replayed through my head.

Stay with the Avengers? What, do they think I'm a kid and need a babysitter? Probably, actually, I was what, sixteen last time they saw me?

Kay? Why did I tell Stark my name was Kay? Ah well, that works I guess. I certainly wasn't Charlie anymore.

Charlie didn't exist in this dimension.

But that led me to an entirely new dilemma. If Charlie didn't exist anymore, than who was I?

And more importantly, what now?

And even _more_ importantly, what was i supposed to do with all these phones in my stupid clutch?

**~END~**

* * *

**The Sequel, Adjusting with the Avengers, is available now.**

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**~CLC~**


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